Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-04-15
HISTORY OF THE cossAcKs.

I HISTORY OF THE COSSACKS.
Tho Rise and Progress of the Pioneers o
Russian Civilization.
IF. D. Millet. in Harper's Magezine.1
These pioneers Of Russian civilization
form the living rampant of Russia fol
the five or six thousand miles which
cover the entire Asiatic frontier from
! the sea of Okhotsk in eastern Siberia
to the River Don and the Caucasus
They are first mentioned in the Russian
chronicles of 144 Us living around thai
part Of the Dneiper where the city Of
kiev now stands. They had begun tc
assemble there rs early as the tenth
century, escaping tyranny of all kinds
and they chose the Dneiper territory as
q refuge because they could easily de
fend themselves there among the i'm
passable marshes and numerous islands,
| These refugees from oppression in
creased very fast, and although they
numbered many different classes and
races of people-victims Of religious
persecution, fugitives from the cruelty
of lords and masters. deserters, Grim.
mails, and outlaws-they soon united
into q more OF less homogeneous mass,
essentially Russian in character, for the
larger part of them were Russians, but
utterly opposed in political creed to the
existing government They formed, aa
it were, a republic within q monarchy,
q state within q state, always calling
themselves Russians, although main
tanning their independence Of Rus
sian rule. AS they grew to be formid-
able in numbers they spread rapidly
over the country and at last established
themselves as q kind of military in
southern Russia and declared them
aelves defenders against savage tribes
and Turks. Their usefulness to Russia
as defenders of the frontier was by no
means imaginary. The cities of south
ern Russia we're continually threatened
by the incursions of Asiatic barbarians
and frequently sought the aid of the
Cossacks to protect them against these
attacks. Great numbers of young men
from these cities, irresistibly attracted
by the wild, free life Of the borders,
joined the body of Cossacks, which was
then, as it is now, q close corporation.
Complaints of their lawlessness were
showered upon the Gear Alexis, and in
1856 he persuaded some Of them to
come to Moscow, and then sent them
against Poland and Riga-the first SER
vice yer performed by Cossacks in the
Russian army. Nearly a century later
various advance posts were established
by the government in the country occu-
pied by these Yak Cossacks. They.
considering this to be a deliberate in
fringement of their rights, stirred up q
powerful rebellion, and for aboutthirty
years successfully opposed the Russian
arms, pillaging the country of the Volga
and even threatening Moscow. The
final struggle for Cossack independence
ended in the year of the declaration OF
American independence. The Russians
effectually suppressed the rebellion,
captured and executed the leader,
Pugatcheff, and changed the nam of
the river and province from Yak to
Ural, the latter punishment, simple as
it may seem, having q certain refine
ment of cruelty in the appreciation OF
the seni-oriental Cossacks. Since this
famous revolt ended the Cossacks have
been peaceful subjects of the Gear.
always reserving certain traditional
rights and privileges for themselves,
which make them still in a large degree
Independent of Russian rule. 1t has
neve been possible to prevent their
foraging across the frontier, any more
than on our own borders have we
hitherto found it in our power to put an
end to the promiscuous acts of barbarity
which have always postponed perfect
peace in the United States to that time
when the determination Of the Indians
shall have removed the temptations
which ~frontiersmen are unable to with.
stand.
In the course of the centuries of com.
parative freedom which the Cossacks
have enjoyed they have not preserved
the purity of their race, although they
are much more Russian than anything
else. 1t has heen a common custom fol
young men stationed in remote posts to
marry the Asiatic girls whom they have
captured as prisoners of war or bartered
for in the oriental manner. This
practice of promiscuous marriage has,
of course, been no inconsiderable
element in the preservation of thei,
practical isolation from the rest of Rus.
sia. Then, too. besides the mixture OF
blood, nc trifing proportion of them
have been admitted to the body from
the Asiatic tribes, chiefly from the Cir
cassians, who have as o condition OF
their admission, adopted the customs OF
the Cossacks and have sworn allegiance
to the Gar. Possessing, then, char.
acteristics of both Slav and Asiatic, the
great body of Cossacks stands, as il
were, on neutral ground between
European and Asiatic civilization. Their
allegiance to the Russian government
does not place them in the position OF
the ordinary Russian citizen. Instead
of taxes and contributions they pay the
government in military service, giving
a certain amount Of men, enlisted for a
certain length of service, in payment
for the lands on which they squat along
the rivers. Their chief officers arc APP
pointed by the government, and their
ataman, or general Of all the Cossacks,
is always q grand duke. They have
settled along the rivers both because,
in most cases, these mark the frontier
lines, and also because the best lands
lie along the water-courses. The great
mass of Cossacks is divided into numer-
Gus lesser bodies, each called from the